World
At least 10 civilians dead in suspected Jordanian air raids in Syria
An estimated 10 civilians have been killed in air strikes targeting the neighbouring towns of Arman and Malh in the southeast Syrian province of Sweida, according to local media.
Jordanian forces are believed to be behind Thursday’s attacks, though its government has yet to confirm any involvement.
Sweida 24, a news platform based in its namesake city, said warplanes carried out simultaneous strikes on residential neighbourhoods after midnight local time (21:00 GMT).
The attack in Malh caused material damage to some houses. The second strike in Arman, however, collapsed two houses and killed at least 10 civilians, including four women and two girls, both under the age of five.
Jordan is thought to have carried out previous raids in Syria, mostly near the countries’ shared border, in an effort to disrupt weapons smuggling and drug-trafficking operations.
But inhabitants of the towns struck on Thursday questioned the choice of targets.
“What happened was a massacre against children and women,” Murad al-Abdullah, a resident of Arman, told Al Jazeera. “The air strikes that targeted the villages are far from being identified as fighting drug traffickers.”
Al-Abdullah said the bombing was not limited to houses of people suspected to be involved in drug trafficking. He noted other homes were damaged as well, terrorising villagers while they were asleep and causing needless civilian deaths.
“It is unreasonable for two girls who are no more than five years old to be involved in drug trafficking,” al-Abdullah said.
Tribes and residents of the villages near the Jordanian border issued separate statements this week disavowing any involvement in drug smuggling.
The statements also pledged to lend a hand to Jordan to eliminate criminal networks trafficking narcotics and other drugs across the border. In turn, they asked Jordan to suspend its bombings of civilian sites.
The spiritual leader of the Druze religious group in Syria, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hajri, appealed to Jordan to prevent further civilian bloodshed.
“The attacks should be heavily focused towards the smugglers and their supporters exclusively,” al-Hajri said in a public statement.
Al-Abdullah, the Arman resident, also called on Jordan to collaborate with Syrian locals to stop the trafficking operations.
“We are a society that does not accept the manufacture or trade of drugs, and the Jordanian government should have communicated with our elders to cooperate in combating drug traffickers, instead of bombing residential neighbourhoods,” al-Abdullah said.
Suspected attacks aimed at drug-trafficking operations
Thursday’s attack is believed to be the third time this year that Jordanian planes have carried out air raids on Syrian territory.
A previous attack occurred on January 9, resulting in the deaths of three people in the countryside of Sweida, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a London-based rights monitor.
The Observatory said that five smugglers were also killed in a border attack on January 7. Fighting that day took place sporadically over 10 hours.
By the end of the raid, Jordanian forces had arrested 15 suspects. They also claimed to have recovered 627,000 pills of Captagon, an illicitly manufactured amphetamine, and 3.4kg of cannabis.
“What Jordan is doing can certainly delay drug-smuggling operations but unfortunately, cannot stop them completely. The border with Syria is 375km (233 miles) long, and smuggling operations are carried out by professional groups, not some random individuals carrying out bags of drugs to cross the border,” said Essam al-Zoubi, a lawyer and human rights activist.
Drug enforcement officials in the United States and other Western countries have said that war-torn Syria has become a major hub in the Middle East for the drug trade.
The country, for instance, has become the primary manufacturer for Captagon, a multibillion-dollar business. Experts have said smugglers are using Jordan as a route through which Syrian drugs can reach the oil-rich Gulf states.
Al-Zoubi and other human rights advocates have warned the Syrian government itself is involved in the drug trade, in an effort to shore up its war-drained finances.
Reports indicated that the Fourth Armoured Division of the Syrian Army has played a role in overseeing the country’s drug operations, alongside the Iran-backed armed group Hezbollah, an ally of the Syrian government.
“The officials responsible for drug smuggling in Syria are Hezbollah of Lebanon, the Fourth Division, and the security apparatuses of the Syrian regime that control southern Syria,” al-Zoubi said.
Jordan and its allies have also taken other approaches to stopping the drug trade.
In March last year, for instance, the US Department of the Treasury imposed sanctions on six people, including two relatives of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, for their role in producing and trafficking Captagon. Some of those sanctioned had ties to Hezbollah as well.
But al-Zoubi warns that even targeted attacks on Syrian drug dealers will not be enough to stop the trade.
“It does not matter to the drug officials from Hezbollah or the Fourth Division if traders are killed, as the trades themselves will continue regardless of the people,” al-Zoubi said, pointing to an example in May 2023.
Jordanian planes, at the time, had carried out air raids in the Sweida countryside, targeting the house of one of the most famous drug traffickers in Syria, Marai al-Ramthan. He was ultimately killed in the attack.
But, al-Zoubi said, his death “did not limit drug trafficking but, in fact, increased it”. Other smugglers used his demise as an opportunity to expand their trade in his absence.
Omar Idlibi, director of the Doha office at the Harmoon Center for Contemporary Studies, said that geopolitical turmoil in the region has also allowed trafficking to flourish.
“Drug-smuggling operations to Jordan did not exist before 2018, that is, before the Syrian regime and its Iranian allies regained control of southern Syria from the opposition factions,” he told Al Jazeera.
Idlibi explained that the launch of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has had a direct effect on the expanding drug operations.
As it focused on Ukraine, Russia withdrew some of its troops in Syria, allowing Iranian militias and Hezbollah forces to spread. Those groups then turned some of the Syrian army’s headquarters into logistical centres for the manufacture, transport and smuggling of drugs to Jordan.
Russia’s need for military equipment from Iran also prompted it to turn a blind eye to the drug-smuggling activity in Syria, Idlibi explained.
“Everyone knows that the Syrian regime and Iran are behind the terrorist activity on the Syrian-Jordanian border, and unless it is terminated from the source, it will continue at different rates,” Idlibi said.
FIRST ON FOX – Aviva Siegel, the wife of American hostage Kieth Siegel and a former hostage herself, is pleading with everyone and anyone involved in the hostage negotiations to get her husband, and the others, freed from Hamas captivity after they have spent more than 440 days in deplorable conditions.
“Hamas released a video of Keith, and I just saw the picture,” Aviva told Fox News Digital in an emotional interview in reference to a video Hamas released in April. “He looks terrible. His bones are out, and you can see that he’s lost a lot of weight.
“He doesn’t look like himself. And I’m just so worried about him, because so [many] days and minutes have passed since that video that we received,” she said. “I just don’t know what kind of Keith that we’re going to get back.”
Keith Samuel Siegel, 64, remains hostage in Gaza by Hamas (Hostage Family Forum)
7 US HOSTAGES STILL HELD BY HAMAS TERRORISTS AS FAMILIES PLEAD FOR THEIR RELEASE: ‘THIS IS URGENT’
“I’m worried about all the hostages, because the conditions that they are in are the worst conditions that any human being could go through,” Aviva said. “I was there. I touched death. I know what it feels being underneath the ground with no oxygen.
“Keith and I were just left there. We were left there to die,” she added.
Aviva and her husband of, at the time 42 years, were brutally abducted from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and held together for 51 days before she was released in the November 2023 hostage exchange after suffering from a stomach infection that left her incredibly ill.
She has since tirelessly fought for Kieth’s release, meeting with top officials in the U.S. and Israel, traveling to the United States nine times in the last year and becoming a prominent advocate for the hostages.
“I just hope that he’s with other people from Israel, and if he has them, he’s going to be okay,” Aviva said. “He’s just the person that will make them feel that they’re together. That’s what he did when I was there – he was 100% for me and the hostages that we were with.”
TEL AVIV, ISRAEL – MARCH 30: Released hostage Aviva Siegel, wife of hostage Keith Siegel, speaks during the final weekly ‘bring them home now’ rally on March 30, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel. According to the families of hostages forum, this would be the last week a rally is held at ‘hostage square’ citing that the government is not serious about negotiations and instead will be protesting in front of the Knesset from now on. (Photo by Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images)
“If you get kidnapped, get kidnapped with Keith, because he was outstanding to everybody. He was strong for all of us. And I’m sure that he’s keeping strong and keeping his hope to come out,” she said.
Aviva recounted their last moments together before they were separated ahead of her release, telling Fox News Digital, “When I left him, I told him to be the strongest – that he needs to be strong for me, and I’ll be strong for him.”
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY UNDER PRESSURE AMID RISING RESISTANCE, POPULARITY OF IRAN-BACKED TERROR GROUPS
Top security officials from the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar have been pushing Israel and Hamas to agree to a cease-fire and the return of hostages.
Reports on Thursday suggested that negotiators are pushing for a 42-day cease-fire in which 34 of the at least 50 hostages still assessed to be alive, could be exchanged.
Hamas is also believed to continue to hold at least 38 who were taken hostage and then killed while in captivity, along with at least seven who are believed to have been killed on Oct. 7, 2023 and then taken into Gaza.
Though all the hostages are believed to have been held in deplorable conditions, the children, women – including the female IDF soldiers – the sick and the elderly have reportedly been front listed to be freed first in exchange for Hamas terrorists currently imprisoned.
“I’m keeping my hope and holding on and just waiting – waiting to hug Keith, and waiting for all the families, to get their families back,” Aviva said. “We need to get them back.”
Aviva said she dreams of the moment that she gets to hug her husband again and watch their grandchildren “jump into his arms.”
“We’ll be the happiest people on Earth,” she said. “All the hostages, I can’t imagine them coming home. It’ll be just the happiest moment for all of the families. We need it to happen.”
Reports in recent weeks suggest there is an increased sense of optimism in bringing home the hostages, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged some caution when speaking with MSNBC Morning Joe on Thursday when he said, “We are encouraged because this should happen, and it should happen because Hamas is at a point where the cavalry it thought might come to the rescue isn’t coming to the rescue, [Hezbollah’s] not coming to the rescue, [Iran’s] not coming to the rescue.”
“In the absence of that, I think the pressure is on Hamas to finally get to yes,” he added. “But look, I think we also have to be very realistic. We’ve had these Lucy and the football moments several times over the last months where we thought we were there, and the football gets pulled away.
“The real question is: Is Hamas capable of making a decision and getting to yes? We’ve been fanning out with every possible partner on this to try to get the necessary pressure exerted on Hamas to say yes,” Blinken added.
Trump also hinted at China’s growing influence around the canal, which connects the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans.
United States President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to demand control of the Panama Canal after accusing Panama of charging excessive rates on US ships passing through one of the busiest waterways in the world.
“Our Navy and Commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.
“This complete ‘rip-off’ of our Country will immediately stop.”
The US largely built the canal in 1914 and administrated territory surrounding the passage for decades. But Washington fully handed control of the canal to Panama in 1999 after a period of joint administration.
Trump also hinted at China’s growing influence around the canal, which connects the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans.
“It was solely for Panama to manage, not China, or anyone else,” he said. “We would and will NEVER let it fall into the wrong hands!”
The post was an exceedingly rare example of a US leader saying he could push a sovereign country to hand over territory.
“It was not given for the benefit of others, but merely as a token of cooperation with us and Panama. If the moral and legal principles of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,” Trump said.
Trump’s tariff plan
It also underlines an expected shift in US diplomacy under Trump, who has not historically shied away from threatening allies and using rhetoric when dealing with counterparts.
Last month, Trump said he would impose tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports on day one of his administration and that the measures would remain until the “invasion” of undocumented migrants and drugs came to an end.
“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long-simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!” he posted on his Truth Social platform.
Authorities in Panama did not immediately react to Trump’s post.
An estimated 5 percent of global maritime traffic passes through the Panama Canal, which allows ships travelling between Asia and the US East Coast to avoid the long, hazardous route around the southern tip of South America.
The Panama Canal Authority reported in October that the waterway had earned record revenues of nearly $5bn in the last fiscal year.
World
Lo que nos dice la decisión de Trump de involucrarse en disputa de gastos sobre los próximos 4 años
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tras días de amenazas y exigencias, Donald Trump tuvo por qué mostrar una vez que los legisladores aprobaron un acuerdo presupuestario en las primeras horas del sábado, evitando por poco que las dependencias estatales se vieran obligadas a cerrar antes de Navidad por falta de fondos.
El presidente electo logró que los republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes eliminaran algunos gastos, pero no logró su objetivo principal de elevar el límite de la deuda. Esto demostró que, a pesar de su decisiva victoria electoral y sus frecuentes promesas de represalias, muchos miembros de su partido aún están dispuestos a desafiarlo abiertamente.
La decisión de Trump de involucrarse en el debate presupuestario un mes antes de su toma de posesión también mostró que sigue siendo más hábil para destruir acuerdos que para hacerlos, y presagió que su segundo mandato probablemente estará marcado por las mismas luchas internas, el caos y el juego al borde del precipicio que caracterizaron su primer mandato.
“Estén atentos. Abróchense los cinturones. Prepárense”, dijo el congresista Steve Womack, republicano de Arkansas, un asignador presupuestario sénior.
Una mirada a la agenda de Trump muestra una cascada de oportunidades para enfrentamientos similares en los años venideros. El presidente electo quiere ampliar los recortes fiscales que promulgó hace siete años, reducir el tamaño del gobierno, aumentar los aranceles a las importaciones y tomar medidas enérgicas contra los inmigrantes no autorizados. Muchos de esos esfuerzos necesitarán la aprobación del Congreso.
Para muchos de los seguidores de Trump, la disrupción podría ser un objetivo en sí mismo. El 37% de los que votaron por él este año dijeron que querían “un cambio total y completo”, según AP VoteCast, una extensa encuesta de más de 120.000 votantes. Un 56% adicional dijo que querían “un cambio sustancial”.
Pero los últimos días dejaron claro la dificultad que Trump podría enfrentar para cumplir rápidamente sus objetivos, especialmente dado que los republicanos solo cuentan con mayorías escasas en la Cámara de Representantes y el Senado. Algunos legisladores ya parecen cansados de la aparente ausencia de una estrategia unificada.
El senador Kevin Cramer, republicano de Dakota del Norte, dijo que la batalla presupuestaria fue “una lección valiosa sobre cómo organizarnos”.
El fracaso de las exigencias de Trump
El problema comenzó cuando los principales legisladores publicaron una copia de la iniciativa de ley, conocida como una resolución continua, que era necesaria para asegurar el funcionamiento del gobierno federal hasta marzo. No fue el presidente electo, sino Elon Musk, el hombre más rico del mundo y confidente de Trump, quien primero comenzó a generar oposición a la ley en las redes sociales al calificarla de gasto excesivo.
Trump eventualmente se sumó a la batalla. Ordenó a los republicanos cancelar el acuerdo bipartidista que habían hecho con los demócratas y exigió que aumentaran el límite de la deuda, el tope de cuánto puede pedir prestado el gobierno, con la esperanza de evitar que ese espinoso problema surgiera cuando ya estuviera en funciones.
Aumentó la presión incluso después de haber modificado sus demandas iniciales. Primero quería eliminar el límite de la deuda por completo. Luego quería suspenderlo hasta 2027. Luego propuso una extensión hasta 2029.
Si las dependencias estatales se vieran obligadas a cerrar por falta de fondos, el presidente demócrata Joe Biden sería culpado, insistió Trump.
“Todos los republicanos, e incluso los demócratas, deberían hacer lo que es mejor para nuestro país y votar ‘A FAVOR’ de esta iniciativa de ley, ¡ESTA NOCHE!”, escribió Trump el jueves, antes de una votación sobre una versión del proyecto de ley que incluía un límite de deuda más alto.
En cambio, 38 republicanos votaron en contra. Fue un desaire sorprendente para Trump, quien a veces pareciera no tener ningún control sobre su propio partido.
“Sin esto, nunca deberíamos hacer un acuerdo”, escribió en Truth Social, su red social.
Si no conseguía lo que quería, Trump dijo que debería haber un cierre del gobierno. También dijo que sus correligionarios pagarían el precio en las elecciones primarias si se negaban a seguir adelante, y dijo que “los obstruccionistas republicanos tienen que ser eliminados”. Señaló especialmente al representante Chip Roy, de Texas, por su nombre y con insultos.
Pero al final, los legisladores dejaron fuera ese aumento del techo de la deuda, y un acuerdo final se aprobó el sábado a primera hora.
Musk y otros aliados de Trump intentaron presentarlo como una victoria porque la ley final se redujo significativamente y omitió elementos impopulares como un aumento salarial para los miembros del Congreso. Charlie Kirk, un prominente activista conservador, escribió en X que Trump ”¡ya está dirigiendo el Congreso antes de asumir el cargo!”.
El presidente de la Cámara de Representantes, Mike Johnson, republicano de Luisiana, dijo que había estado en “contacto constante” con Trump, quien, aseguró, estaba “ciertamente feliz con este resultado”.
Si Trump estuvo de acuerdo, él mismo no lo dijo.
Tras días de publicaciones frecuentes en redes sociales, Trump volvió a guardar silencio el viernes. No ofreció una reacción a la votación final ni emitió ningún comunicado. En cambio, fue a jugar golf en su resort en Florida.
Karoline Leavitt, una vocera de Trump, dijo que el presidente electo ayudó a prevenir un acuerdo original “lleno de despilfarros demócratas y aumentos salariales para los miembros del Congreso”.
“En enero, el presidente Trump y el Departamento de Eficiencia Gubernamental (DOGE, por sus siglas en inglés) continuarán esta importante misión de eliminar el despilfarro de Washington, una ley a la vez”, dijo. El DOGE es un panel asesor que será liderado por Musk y el empresario Vivek Ramaswamy.
Más enfrentamientos en el horizonte
La atmósfera circense de la lucha por el presupuesto recordó al primer mandato de Trump. En aquel entonces, un enfrentamiento presupuestario llevó a un cierre del gobierno cuando Trump exigió dinero para su muro fronterizo entre Estados Unidos y México. Después de 35 días, el cierre más largo de la historia, accedió a un acuerdo sin haber logrado los fondos que había exigido.
Fue un punto bajo político para Trump, y el 60% de los estadounidenses lo culparon por el cierre, según una encuesta realizada por The Associated Press y el NORC Center for Public Affairs Research en ese momento.
Trump no dejó de intentar doblegar a los republicanos a su voluntad en ese entonces y ciertamente no lo hará en este momento.
Trump está aumentando la presión sobre su propio partido por sus elecciones para el gabinete, empujando a senadores republicanos reacios a aceptar algunos de sus nombramientos más controvertidos, como el activista antivacunas Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a quien eligió como secretario de Salud y el presentador de Fox News Pete Hegseth como secretario de Defensa.
Pareciera que los debates sobre el presupuesto del próximo año definitivamente pondrán a prueba aún más la influencia de Trump en la Cámara de Representantes. Muchos conservadores ven el rápido crecimiento de la deuda federal como una amenaza existencial para el país que debe abordarse. Pero algunos republicanos temen una reacción negativa de los votantes si se realizan recortes drásticos a los programas federales de los que dependen los estadounidenses.
Las preocupaciones sobre el gasto deficitario podrían intensificarse si Trump impulsa los recortes fiscales costosos que prometió durante la campaña, como eliminar los impuestos sobre las propinas, la Seguridad Social y el pago de horas extras.
Trump también pretende ampliar los recortes fiscales que promulgó en 2017 y que deberán llegar a su fin el próximo año. Ha pedido una reducción adicional de la tasa de impuestos corporativos de Estados Unidos del 21% al 15%, pero sólo para las empresas que producen en Estados Unidos.
Trump ha dicho que pagará las caídas en los ingresos con aranceles agresivos nuevos, los cuales, advierten los economistas, resultarán en precios más altos para los consumidores.
El representante Dan Crenshaw, republicano de Texas, dijo que la reducción del gasto público probablemente seguirá siendo un abismo entre Trump y los republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes.
“Eso nunca ha sido realmente una promesa de campaña de Trump, pero es una gran prioridad para los republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes”, dijo.
No había indicios de que la animosidad estuviera disminuyendo el sábado. Algunos republicanos culparon al liderazgo de la Cámara de Representantes por no asegurar la “bendición” de Trump en el acuerdo original. Los demócratas presentaron a Trump como segundo violín de Musk.
Mientras Trump se mantenía callado, Biden anunció que había promulgado la ley presupuestaria.
“Este acuerdo representa un compromiso, lo que significa que ninguna de las partes obtuvo todo lo que quería”, dijo. “Pero rechaza el camino acelerado hacia un recorte de impuestos para multimillonarios que buscaban los republicanos, y asegura que el gobierno pueda continuar operando a plena capacidad”.
___
Boak reportó desde West Palm Beach, Florida, y Colvin desde Nueva York.
____
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de la AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25800606/Asus_NUC_14_Pro_AI_front_top.jpeg "Here’s the first CoPilot plus mini PC with Intel’s new Core Ultra 9 processors")
Here’s the first CoPilot plus mini PC with Intel’s new Core Ultra 9 processors
Wife of US hostage Keith Siegel pleads for holiday miracle: 'we need to get them back'
The biggest Supreme Court decisions of 2024: From presidential immunity to overturning the Chevron doctrine
New skincare trend has people rubbing beef fat on their faces: Dermatologists react
Ravens take down Steelers to keep AFC North race open
Colorado Rockies game no. 116 thread: Zac Gallen vs José Ureña
Why Marjorie Taylor Greene was ‘kicked out’ of the Freedom Caucus according to Rep. Buck
See it: Tesla crashes into Columbus convention center at 70 mph
Fox News Politics: Georgia the whole day through
Death of missing Oregon girl found in stream ruled homicide
The biggest Supreme Court decisions of 2024: From presidential immunity to overturning the Chevron doctrine
Trump threatens to take back control of Panama Canal over ‘ridiculous fees’
College students get emotional about climate change. Some are finding help in class
Read Blake Lively’s Complaint Against Wayfarer Studios
Trump announces newest nominations to lead DOJ, regulate US railroads
-
Politics1 week agoCanadian premier threatens to cut off energy imports to US if Trump imposes tariff on country
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25782636/247422_ChatGPT_anniversary_CVirginia.jpg "Inside the launch — and future — of ChatGPT")
Technology1 week agoInside the launch — and future — of ChatGPT
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25789444/1258459915.jpg "OpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever says the way AI is built is about to change")
Technology1 week agoOpenAI cofounder Ilya Sutskever says the way AI is built is about to change
-
Politics1 week agoU.S. Supreme Court will decide if oil industry may sue to block California's zero-emissions goal
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25546252/STK169_Mark_Zuckerburg_CVIRGINIA_D.jpg "Meta asks the US government to block OpenAI’s switch to a for-profit")
Technology1 week agoMeta asks the US government to block OpenAI’s switch to a for-profit
-
Politics1 week agoConservative group debuts major ad buy in key senators' states as 'soft appeal' for Hegseth, Gabbard, Patel
-
Business7 days agoFreddie Freeman's World Series walk-off grand slam baseball sells at auction for $1.56 million
-
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/23951353/STK043_VRG_Illo_N_Barclay_3_Meta.jpg "Meta’s Instagram boss: who posted something matters more in the AI age")
Technology7 days agoMeta’s Instagram boss: who posted something matters more in the AI age